Suburbia Inc. makes a good (albiet limited) game great. Just adding 20+ new tiles and goals is plenty by itself, but the borders and bonus tiles round out the game so it's not quite as limited. They only needed to give you a few more angles to consider - certain tiles (like the Law Office, which lets you score a single tied goal) and border tiles result in more than one good choice on most turns, which was becoming a rare occurrence in the base game.
Race for the Galaxy was already great, Alien Artifacts is unsurprisingly great. There are a few mechanically interesting cards - if you know MtG terminology, Tranship Point and Wormhole Prospectors are incredible Johnny cards. From a macro level, you get familiar archetypes done differently - a development that draws cards during produce based on how many developments you have, a production world whose good can be discarded for military power, etc. It also feels like the set has a greater focus on specific discounts; the rebel military discounts from the first three expansions have been dropped in favor of new rare/gene/alien discounts. Haven't tried the orb game yet, but if you like Race you want this just for different homeworlds and cards.
At least the new tiles in Suburbia Inc. blunts Airports as a strategy, either by diluting them with new tiles or presenting new combos. The borders were interesting, however in the game we played one of the goals was fewest borders so I wasn't really able to play with them. I did see that if you're not careful you can really screw yourself over if you place the border diagonally.
Went to the mall this weekend, and the game store had a 50% off sale. We picked up Mage Wars (along with a core spell add-on) and Android: Infiltration for half off. I haven't actually played Infiltration yet, but I know several people who have, and they like it.
Mage Wars looks fairly easy to play, but with a lot of terms and keywords for an introductory set. Definitely not for new gamers. I will have to look into getting some of the extra stuff that expands the game to 4 players, and adds more cards, because it looks like it may be slim pickings with 3 or 4 players.
I took my board game to the play test group that I am part of again today. I got a lot of good feedback. One player said the game feels done, mechanically, and just needs polish. I plan on getting a better looking copy printed up, and share it with more people. I am hoping that I can get really serious about Kickstarting the game by the middle of 2014.
I had a weird experience today in that I was able to coax a snarky teenage girl (family friend's daughter) who usually is superbly superficial (into Facebook comments, shoes, clothes, makeup and hair) into playing Hanabi with a few other people and she got the hang of it literally within minutes and became engrossed in it to the point where she wants to buy a copy for herself.
My sister, who is almost completely unplugged, and grew up like I did with traditional American games, asked why we didn't bring any games over on Christmas when we visited her. I introduced her and her boyfriend to Tsuro a while back, and they enjoyed that. We are planning a possible game night later in January to maybe show them some other games as well.
Jungle Speed Safari: This will not replace Jungle Speed, but if you want Jungle Speed in a burst this is the game for you. 5, no really FIVE, totems and every single card flip will have you on the edge of your seat.
Gauntlet of Fools: Thanks Neito for the recommendation, this is Munchkin for people who hate Munchkin. The game starts with a reverse draft to de-buff your character until everyone has one. Then you go into the dungeon and kill all the monsters until you are dead and count your gold. 30 minutes tops, great party game.
Blokus: I managed to snag TWO copies of this game for $4 each. Finally a game that is abstract that I can hang with. But Gemblo is still better (except for the god awful instruction book that it comes with).
Games played on New Years Eve: Hedge Maze Hijinks: My game, and the two games that were played went well. I tried a 5 player variant, that I felt worked out well and I may use as one of my Kickstarter bonuses. The game feels a bit faster than before. 5 players took just under an hour, and that was with some developer food for thought thrown in. I feel that an hour for a 5 player game is a decent time, and may have been able to take around 45-50 minutes with less talking/sharing from me.
Lords of Waterdeep, with Expansions. We went head first and played with both expansions (which we picked up on the way to the party). The addition of extra spots, extra agents and the corruption points (negative victory points with a growing value mechanic) felt good, and didn't throw too much extra time into the game, and probably would have been shorter if more people had been familiar with the new spots.
No Thanks! We played 2 quick games, one with 4 points and one with 5. I took second in the four player game with 20 points, and in the 5 player game, got really lucky with a high run that got wheeled several times and got my total down from 46 to 8 points.
Tokaido - Ro and I played with 3 new players who enjoyed playing the game. The relaxing nature of the game and the beautiful art make this game enjoyable for me.
Trains - Tokyo - A new(?) deck building game that also has a bit of a territory control element. Players build up their deck to add tracks and stations to the board to get to key locations on the map. Each time you lay a track or station, you gain "waste" cards, which do nothing in your hand, but have a couple of ways to be removed from your hand (you can do nothing on your turn to return any number of waste to the pile, and we had a card that did the same thing, but as an action). I ended up taking second place, and felt that the added element of the board and track/station placement was a nice, fresh mechanic.
I'm at a week long juggling convention over New Years, which means a lot of board gaming is going on. 90% of it seems to be Hanabi and various flavors of Power Grid.
I just wanted to show a couple pictures of the game I have been working on, and the evolution between the first printed version, and the newest version. May 7th, 2013: to Dec 31st, 2013 I am still working on getting a color version of my new cards, but have been a little bit lazy about it, and currently play testing them in black and white on business cards. The cubes represent statues, which block off spaces, and the squares in the middle are a mechanic that didn't work as intended, so it will be scrapped in the next version.
Played a couple 2-player games of Castles of Burgundy this week. Really glad I got this game based on others' suggestions that it was good for 2 people because they were totally right. During each game we were neck and neck the whole time, and the game is quick and easy to play. Looking forward to playing it with more people.
The primary issue in reconstructing the game is that we only have archaeological finds of pieces and boards - there are literally no instructions. Most have just extrapolated it to be some kind of vaguely chess-like game.
The article attached is mostly crap. Icelandic Vikings gave literally no shits about kings (they had a parliament), and even those Vikings who did have kings didn't always kowtow to them. The job was held so long as you could keep your men well-paid.
The game is fun, though. I really should own a set.
The primary issue in reconstructing the game is that we only have archaeological finds of pieces and boards - there are literally no instructions. Most have just extrapolated it to be some kind of vaguely chess-like game.
The article attached is mostly crap. Icelandic Vikings gave literally no shits about kings (they had a parliament), and even those Vikings who did have kings didn't always kowtow to them. The job was held so long as you could keep your men well-paid.
The game is fun, though. I really should own a set.
Seems simple enough that you could just make a set.
You can find the board pattern online easily. Use glass stones as markers. 24 of one color, 12 of another, and 1 of another.
But the carved wood sets with the woven cloth board are just too pretty. It's much more satisfying to pick up this chunky piece and plunk it down.
"Tafl" by itself simply refers to a class of games played on a board. Hnefatafl is the most commonly-played version, because it's different. The Vikings also had a version of both chess and backgammon, as well as a couple of other games. Several northern European cultures had variants as well.
The most commonly-used ruleset tends to favor the side with the King, primarily because of a 4-piece capture rule. Alternate rulesets change the balance of play. IIRC, the most balanced version involves the King escaping to the corners, a two-piece capture of the King, and not allowing the king to capture. This all assumes that balanced play was even a goal, and some contend that dice may have been a factor.
In an irrational buying spree, I bought three games yesterday, all relatively similar:
Concordia Amerigo Francis Drake
I must be in a naval exploration and colonization mood...
Also, I received notification today that the copy of Hansa Teutonica that I ordered from a shady internet seller on Amazon for only $35 arrived. I'll have to check that out once I get home. It's probably too good to be true, considering that the game is out of print and going for stupid amounts of money, but at least Amazon has their A to Z guarantee
So, I am getting ready to get my game printed through a print service, and want to include instructions in the box, so that it is self contained for sending out. I was wondering, if anyone from this thread wouldn't mind proof-reading the rules. I am planning on ordering a copy by the end of this week, once I have made sure everything is in order. Here is the link to the doc (as a pdf) in Dropbox: Hedge Maze Hijinks Rules Here is the link to the cards for reference: Hedge Maze Hijinks Card Proofs
The game, in a nutshell: You are a Wizard, competing with the other wizards to keep your Students movile in a hedge maze as you grow and shape the maze with various spells. The last wizard to have a Student left in the maze wins! Hand size of 4 cards, you place Hedges down on the borders of squares to trap other player's pawns, by playing hedge and spell cards from your hand. Any students that of yours that can't move at the end of your turn are removed from the board. If you are the last player to have a student on the board at the beginning of your turn, you win.
Also, if anyone is interested in a copy to play/review, let me know. I would prefer not to just send one, but I would be willing to cover part of the cost (current cost before shipping is $39 unless I hit 25 units, then it drops down a little bit). As of right now, I am looking to get it play tested by as many people as I can, so that I can think about how to proceed. After talking to the guy from Game Salute, I am not sure how I want to go about the process. There seems to be quite a bit of logistics to go along with it.
Thanks in advance for anyone willing to review the rules.
Take some time and work on the design/colors of your cards. The colors are fairly garish right now, especially on the monitor. One really simple thing would be to find a color theme from this websitehttp://www.colourlovers.com/palettes and use a strong cohesive palette.
Also, while the font you have currently is fun, it's fairly hard to read (especially with the colors you currently have). Take a look here http://fontspotting.org/ it provides a free pdf mean for a font flash game, but if you print them out roughly the size of cards, you can get a good idea of what the cards look like.
EDIT: Just to sort of demonstrate how important this sort of consideration is, take a look at the differences between the old and new Glory to Rome design.
I literally want to kill my eyes every fucking time I see the old GtR artwork.
I second the "garish colors" comment. It's not egregious, but it's noticable. A more matte color would be easier on the eyes.
EDIT:
OK, rules questions.
First, a question for you. What happens if I have a student that is surrounded on 3 sides by walls/statues, and on the fourth side a line of other students at least 4 long? My student would be unable to move (without a spell, anyhow), and would be unable to stop on a square with a student.
Should the rule say "At the end of your turn, if one or more of your students could not make any legal moves, that student is removed from the game?"
Also, the wording for moving is slightly cumbersome. First you say "You can't move into a space that has a student next to it." Later you say "You can use bonus movement to move through a space with a student." This seems contradictory and needlessly confusing. I believe your intent is "You may not end movement in a space with another student." Perfectly clear.
I've also got some suggestions for breaking up the blocks of text a touch with pertinent headings.
Seems like a neat warm-up game. Not too intensive, enough decisions to be somewhat interesting.
He actually has been working hard on them. He goes to board game testing and gets tons of pointers from the people at Game Salute. From being a person who has seen this game from beginning to now, it has improved vastly.
I do agree on the colors being a bit too garish, but Jeremy was taking consideration for people who are colorblind. There are probably better colors, but this is still a prototype. Jeremy plans on getting artwork done by actual artists and graphic design type people. The font should be simple, but I know Jeremy was trying to be fancy.
It's a pretty solid game. This is only a prototype to be play tested to make sure there aren't any sort of quirks in gameplay.
Jeremy has limited photoshop skills and from what he's accomplished and all the work he has put into it, I'm so proud of him.
This isn't a final version by any means. I created the doc with the cards more for reference to the cards, since the rules mention a few of them by name, and it would be easier to get the idea of what the game looks like with the flavor of the cards. I plan on having someone else do the graphic design, including the color palette (although the actual colors will stay the same, just using complimentary shades). I also don't have the experience with graphics software to know how to tone down the colors with effects...
I suppose using colored borders on the cards instead of backgrounds would be better, and make things easier to read. I can switch over to an easier to read font, though I didn't find it too difficult to read, but I may be seeing it how I like, since I am so close to the project. I'll make some changes and resubmit on here first.
It's definitely very impressive that you have gotten this far, and I would very much love the opportunity to play it with you sometime! Just trying to help you make it as awesome as can be
With regards to colorblind issues, this is exactly why the new GTR cards have very distinctive icons representing each color/profession/action. Something to maybe think about when working on details
Comments
Suburbia Inc. makes a good (albiet limited) game great. Just adding 20+ new tiles and goals is plenty by itself, but the borders and bonus tiles round out the game so it's not quite as limited. They only needed to give you a few more angles to consider - certain tiles (like the Law Office, which lets you score a single tied goal) and border tiles result in more than one good choice on most turns, which was becoming a rare occurrence in the base game.
Race for the Galaxy was already great, Alien Artifacts is unsurprisingly great. There are a few mechanically interesting cards - if you know MtG terminology, Tranship Point and Wormhole Prospectors are incredible Johnny cards. From a macro level, you get familiar archetypes done differently - a development that draws cards during produce based on how many developments you have, a production world whose good can be discarded for military power, etc. It also feels like the set has a greater focus on specific discounts; the rebel military discounts from the first three expansions have been dropped in favor of new rare/gene/alien discounts. Haven't tried the orb game yet, but if you like Race you want this just for different homeworlds and cards.
Mage Wars looks fairly easy to play, but with a lot of terms and keywords for an introductory set. Definitely not for new gamers. I will have to look into getting some of the extra stuff that expands the game to 4 players, and adds more cards, because it looks like it may be slim pickings with 3 or 4 players.
High Society is by the same guy at Modern Art and rather good. Lots of similarities but more randomness.
Koryo is ok. Lite and quick for 4 people. Pretty cards but needs instruction cards. That is a no go for me.
Anyone have strange interactions with non gamers?
Jungle Speed Safari: This will not replace Jungle Speed, but if you want Jungle Speed in a burst this is the game for you. 5, no really FIVE, totems and every single card flip will have you on the edge of your seat.
Gauntlet of Fools: Thanks Neito for the recommendation, this is Munchkin for people who hate Munchkin. The game starts with a reverse draft to de-buff your character until everyone has one. Then you go into the dungeon and kill all the monsters until you are dead and count your gold. 30 minutes tops, great party game.
Blokus: I managed to snag TWO copies of this game for $4 each. Finally a game that is abstract that I can hang with. But Gemblo is still better (except for the god awful instruction book that it comes with).
Hedge Maze Hijinks: My game, and the two games that were played went well. I tried a 5 player variant, that I felt worked out well and I may use as one of my Kickstarter bonuses. The game feels a bit faster than before. 5 players took just under an hour, and that was with some developer food for thought thrown in. I feel that an hour for a 5 player game is a decent time, and may have been able to take around 45-50 minutes with less talking/sharing from me.
Lords of Waterdeep, with Expansions. We went head first and played with both expansions (which we picked up on the way to the party). The addition of extra spots, extra agents and the corruption points (negative victory points with a growing value mechanic) felt good, and didn't throw too much extra time into the game, and probably would have been shorter if more people had been familiar with the new spots.
No Thanks! We played 2 quick games, one with 4 points and one with 5. I took second in the four player game with 20 points, and in the 5 player game, got really lucky with a high run that got wheeled several times and got my total down from 46 to 8 points.
Tokaido - Ro and I played with 3 new players who enjoyed playing the game. The relaxing nature of the game and the beautiful art make this game enjoyable for me.
Trains - Tokyo - A new(?) deck building game that also has a bit of a territory control element. Players build up their deck to add tracks and stations to the board to get to key locations on the map. Each time you lay a track or station, you gain "waste" cards, which do nothing in your hand, but have a couple of ways to be removed from your hand (you can do nothing on your turn to return any number of waste to the pile, and we had a card that did the same thing, but as an action). I ended up taking second place, and felt that the added element of the board and track/station placement was a nice, fresh mechanic.
I am still working on getting a color version of my new cards, but have been a little bit lazy about it, and currently play testing them in black and white on business cards. The cubes represent statues, which block off spaces, and the squares in the middle are a mechanic that didn't work as intended, so it will be scrapped in the next version.
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/cef088ae4e2d
The primary issue in reconstructing the game is that we only have archaeological finds of pieces and boards - there are literally no instructions. Most have just extrapolated it to be some kind of vaguely chess-like game.
The article attached is mostly crap. Icelandic Vikings gave literally no shits about kings (they had a parliament), and even those Vikings who did have kings didn't always kowtow to them. The job was held so long as you could keep your men well-paid.
The game is fun, though. I really should own a set.
But the carved wood sets with the woven cloth board are just too pretty. It's much more satisfying to pick up this chunky piece and plunk it down.
"Tafl" by itself simply refers to a class of games played on a board. Hnefatafl is the most commonly-played version, because it's different. The Vikings also had a version of both chess and backgammon, as well as a couple of other games. Several northern European cultures had variants as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafl_games
The most commonly-used ruleset tends to favor the side with the King, primarily because of a 4-piece capture rule. Alternate rulesets change the balance of play. IIRC, the most balanced version involves the King escaping to the corners, a two-piece capture of the King, and not allowing the king to capture. This all assumes that balanced play was even a goal, and some contend that dice may have been a factor.
Drop cards on the floor. Try to land yours touching the points, while covering up your opponent's symbols.
Concordia
Amerigo
Francis Drake
I must be in a naval exploration and colonization mood...
Also, I received notification today that the copy of Hansa Teutonica that I ordered from a shady internet seller on Amazon for only $35 arrived. I'll have to check that out once I get home. It's probably too good to be true, considering that the game is out of print and going for stupid amounts of money, but at least Amazon has their A to Z guarantee
Here is the link to the doc (as a pdf) in Dropbox:
Hedge Maze Hijinks Rules
Here is the link to the cards for reference:
Hedge Maze Hijinks Card Proofs
The game, in a nutshell: You are a Wizard, competing with the other wizards to keep your Students movile in a hedge maze as you grow and shape the maze with various spells. The last wizard to have a Student left in the maze wins! Hand size of 4 cards, you place Hedges down on the borders of squares to trap other player's pawns, by playing hedge and spell cards from your hand. Any students that of yours that can't move at the end of your turn are removed from the board. If you are the last player to have a student on the board at the beginning of your turn, you win.
Also, if anyone is interested in a copy to play/review, let me know. I would prefer not to just send one, but I would be willing to cover part of the cost (current cost before shipping is $39 unless I hit 25 units, then it drops down a little bit). As of right now, I am looking to get it play tested by as many people as I can, so that I can think about how to proceed. After talking to the guy from Game Salute, I am not sure how I want to go about the process. There seems to be quite a bit of logistics to go along with it.
Thanks in advance for anyone willing to review the rules.
Also, while the font you have currently is fun, it's fairly hard to read (especially with the colors you currently have). Take a look here http://fontspotting.org/ it provides a free pdf mean for a font flash game, but if you print them out roughly the size of cards, you can get a good idea of what the cards look like.
EDIT: Just to sort of demonstrate how important this sort of consideration is, take a look at the differences between the old and new Glory to Rome design.
Old, difficult to read, and ugly:
New, minimalist, and beautiful:
I second the "garish colors" comment. It's not egregious, but it's noticable. A more matte color would be easier on the eyes.
EDIT:
OK, rules questions.
First, a question for you. What happens if I have a student that is surrounded on 3 sides by walls/statues, and on the fourth side a line of other students at least 4 long? My student would be unable to move (without a spell, anyhow), and would be unable to stop on a square with a student.
Should the rule say "At the end of your turn, if one or more of your students could not make any legal moves, that student is removed from the game?"
Also, the wording for moving is slightly cumbersome. First you say "You can't move into a space that has a student next to it." Later you say "You can use bonus movement to move through a space with a student." This seems contradictory and needlessly confusing. I believe your intent is "You may not end movement in a space with another student." Perfectly clear.
I've also got some suggestions for breaking up the blocks of text a touch with pertinent headings.
Seems like a neat warm-up game. Not too intensive, enough decisions to be somewhat interesting.
I do agree on the colors being a bit too garish, but Jeremy was taking consideration for people who are colorblind. There are probably better colors, but this is still a prototype. Jeremy plans on getting artwork done by actual artists and graphic design type people. The font should be simple, but I know Jeremy was trying to be fancy.
It's a pretty solid game. This is only a prototype to be play tested to make sure there aren't any sort of quirks in gameplay.
Jeremy has limited photoshop skills and from what he's accomplished and all the work he has put into it, I'm so proud of him.
I suppose using colored borders on the cards instead of backgrounds would be better, and make things easier to read. I can switch over to an easier to read font, though I didn't find it too difficult to read, but I may be seeing it how I like, since I am so close to the project. I'll make some changes and resubmit on here first.
Edit:
I guess flickr uses iframes now for embedding videos, which Vanilla doesn't allow...
With regards to colorblind issues, this is exactly why the new GTR cards have very distinctive icons representing each color/profession/action. Something to maybe think about when working on details